UMC Responds To Questions In Young Girl’s Drowning

University Medical Center’s decision to take a young girl who was pulled from the Franklin Canal off of life support on Tuesday morning has raised questions from viewers.

Rescuers told ABC-7 paramedics performed CPR all the way to the hospital, where the girl was listed in critical condition Monday evening. Tuesday, doctors at UMC decided to remove her from life support.

In emails to KVIA, some viewers expressed concern with the decision to take the girl –still unidentified– off of life-support without any family on-hand.

In KVIA’s Facebook page, a viewer asked, “By whom, and how, was the authorization made to remove life support? Either something is terribly wrong with the reporting, or something is grossly wrong at the hospital!”

Margaret Althoff-Olivas, director of public affairs at University Medical Center of El Paso offered the following response:

?I cannot speak to the specifics of this case because of federal patient privacy laws, but I can say that the doctors and nurses involved in this poor little girl?s care — a little girl they called “Esperanza,” which means “Hope” in Spanish — did everything they could to try to save her life. They were devastated by her death. To infer otherwise is not only ludicrous, it is very hurtful to her caregivers.?

Wednesday, authorities were able to confirm the girl was 5 year-old Eva Jaredzi Beltran-Aguilar, from Juarez. El Paso police said the girl’s mother arrived at the international bridge inquiring about her missing daughter and husband.

Earlier Wednesday afternoon, emergency crews recovered the body of a man from the Franklin canal.

As of the publication of this story, it was still unknown if he was the girl’s father.